If you are looking for a suspenseful spy novel, this is not it. The Broker (John Grisham) starts off intriguingly enough, with CIA pressure on a departing president to issue a full pardon for former lawyer and power broker Joel Backman. Backman, it seems, holds secrets to a mysterious and powerful satellite surveillance system whose origin is in question. He was hired by those who discovered the satellites (and who developed software to manipulate then) to sell their program to the highest bidder. When the government began investigating and others who were involved in the scheme turned up dead, Backman pled guilty to federal charges of possessing classified military information. Now, six years later (and fourteen years early), the CIA hopes that by releasing Backman and sitting back to watch who ultimately kills him, they will learn more about the source of the satellites, or at the very least, who Backman tried to sell his secrets to. Backman is released in the middle of the night and smuggled into Italy with a new identity, supposedly for his protection, though his whereabouts will eventually be leaked.

The problem begins in Italy. The story essentially stops; it’s hardly action-packed. There are long walks, sightseeing, Italian tutoring sessions, visits to cafes, and long Italian meals. But one typically reads Grisham for suspense or drama, and it was missing here. I could have skipped entire chapters without losing any of the plot. There are subplots regarding Backman’s communications with his son and a supposed romance with one of his Italian tutors, but I didn’t buy either. In fact, I somehow missed the romance aspect altogether. I can only assume that we are supposed to believe it was a romance, since at the end of the novel Backman calls her “special” and we learn that he plans to return to Bologna to see her. Perhaps this is because I never felt invested in any of the characters. There was no character development to speak of, and I’m not even sure why some of the characters were there.

There were other subplots and loose ends that were never tied up. What of the Chinese assassin? What of the cash for pardon scandal? These threads went nowhere and were not resolved, or even addressed at all, in the pat ending.

There are shades here of earlier Grisham works. He’s done the “man (or woman) on the run” bit before, in novels like The Partner and The Pelican Brief. I don’t believe this story was as well executed as either of those. I used to love Grisham and have read nearly everything of his. The Broker was a fun story and I had no trouble finishing it, but it’s not one of his best. I can’t say that I’d strongly recommend this one, especially if you are looking for something in the action and suspense genre. As a more leisurely story, it’s a pleasant enough read.